Kids say the darndest things…

Tonight, my oldest son came down the stairs (after bedtime of course) and the following conversation took place:

(he’s 6 by the way)

Son: “Um…what would be the effects if someone were to swallow a quarter? Or a token?”
Me: “Uh. Did you swallow a quarter?”
Son: “No, I swallowed my Chuck E. Cheese Token”
Me: “…”
Son: “How do I get it out?”
Me: “It’ll come out eventually. It will hurt too.”
Son: “Oh. ”
Me: “Why was it in your mouth?”
Son: “I don’t know. I’m sorry!”
Me: “You’re not in trouble, I was just curious.”
Son: “Can we get it out?”
Me: “Nope. You’ll have to do it on your own.”
Son: “OK. I really liked that token.”

He heads on back up to bed and my wife and I shake our heads and laugh. How? Why? What? Really?

My first thought was to call poison control (after all, it’s a foreign substance), but I turned to Google instead. Kids seem to swallow all sorts of things. Google helpfully suggested a quarter, dime, penny, nickel, coin, tooth, etc. But I saw some that gave me pause. Marble. Lego. Battery? Why would a kid have a battery in his mouth long enough for a parent to need to Google this? I digress…

A bit of poking around Google results confirmed what I already knew. As long as he passes it, all is fine.

About 20 minutes after the above conversation, he’s back downstairs again. (Yes, this is a nightly ritual of playing the bed yo-yo game). He holds up a coin and says “Wa-da! I found it under my leg!” Huh. OK, good. Go back to bed.

I don’t think it’s good that I worry this much about my 6 year old. At least he didn’t really swallow the token, he only thought he had.